Will A Rush For Minerals On The Moon Put Research In Jeopardy?

Science and business are heading for an astronomiover the future cal clash exploration of the moon and the exploitation of its resources. The celestial skirmish threatens to break out over companies' plans to launch dozens of probes to survey the lunar landscape over the next few years.

- Robin McKie

Peregrine mission one, which launched on Monday carrying Nasa scientific equipment to the moon, appeared to have suffered critical problems due to a loss of propellant. But it is just one of an extraterrestrial armada - largely funded through Nasa's $2.6bn Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative - whose aim is to survey the moon so minerals, water and other resources can be extracted to build permanent, habitable bases there. These would later provide a springboard for crewed missions to Mars.

But astronomers have warned that an unrestricted rush to exploit the moon could cause irreparable damage to precious scientific sites. Gravitational wave research, black hole observations, studies to pinpoint life on tiny worlds that orbit distant stars, and other research could be jeopardised, they say.

"The issue has become urgent," Martin Elvis, of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, said. "We need to act now because decisions made today will set the tone for our future behaviour on the moon."